


Legends Rise and Titans Fall

by Firey_Mana



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But mostly Peter, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Minor Original Character(s), Peter Parker and Carol Danvers friendship, Peter Parker-centric, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tags May Change, Tony Stark-centric, Unlike my last fic, Whump, like everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-17 20:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17567435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firey_Mana/pseuds/Firey_Mana
Summary: Pre-Avenger's Endgame--When Tony and Peter are on the brink of death out in space, Captain Marvel and Rocket rescue them and bring them to Hala to heal. When they arrive back on Earth, they learn of a plan to reverse the snap.--RETITLED from "Staying Alive and Saving Lives" because I really didn't like the initial title given the story





	1. Chapter 1

Tony Stark took in a shuddering breath, and laid back against the hull of the Benatar, after activating his helmet. “Hey Miss Potts, if you find this recording – don’t feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero hope of rescue is more fun than it sounds,” he said, making a weak attempt at humor. “Peter,” he stopped, looking over at his still frame on the floor, “Peter hasn’t moved or said anything for over a day, I’m worried he won’t make it the night.” he said, after starting again. “He took it the hardest out of all of us.” Tony took in a breath, “Food and water ran out five days ago,” he tried to recall, “Oxygen will run out before tomorrow morning. And that’ll be it,” his voice choked at the end, but he leaned forward. “But when I drift off, I’ll dream about you. It’s always you,” he said softly before turning off the helmet.

He leaned back hard, and tried not to look too long at Peter. His metabolism made him need more food than the rest of them. And a couple days after it ran out, his body began shutting down. Tony slowly worked his way over, just to be sure he was still breathing. Tony put his hand just below his nose, and felt the slight breeze he made when he breathed out, and he sighed in relief. “Hold on, kid,” he murmured.

 

They weren’t exactly stranded. At least, not quite yet. They were moving across solar systems to jump points so they could make their way to the nearest station. It took several days for Peter and Tony to work out how to fix the ship, but both Tony’s arc reactor, and the ships reserves didn’t have enough juice to get them where they needed to go in a shorter time. So they used the antimatter reserves to push them to the other side of star systems to reach the nearest point in order to use the minimal amount of energy.

It was a good strategy, except that they would be out of oxygen before reaching the final jump point. They were two days away, but they would be lucky to last one. Nebula would survive though. She was still working, albeit more slowly, and she had sworn to bring their bodies back to Earth if it came to it.

Tony wanted Peter to say goodbye to his Aunt, to his friends, but he couldn’t. For all he knew, Peter was internally screaming inside, trying to move, but being unable to. “Try – try to go to sleep kid, it’ll be over soon.” he gently rubbed his shoulder one last time, and moved closer to Nebula.

“No word?” he asked.

“No, I would’ve said something,” she said, not looking at him. “I don’t even know if anyone can receive us.” Tony let his head fall back, and closed his eyes. They had tried to send signals through the jump gates, but as Nebula said, they couldn’t be controlled like ships, and would just bounce around. They could end up anywhere from the nearest station, to the other side of the galaxy.

“Please tell May I really tried to send Peter home,” Tony croaked.

Nebula finally looked at him, with sympathy, “I will, Tony.” She said solemnly. Tony nodded, and closed his eyes, hoping it wouldn’t hurt when he finally died.

 

The first thing Tony heard were voices, it felt like his ears were ringing, and they were getting louder and louder. “Stark, wake up. Wake up, Stark.” he clenched his eyes, and turned his head, the lights were suddenly bright, and he moved his hand over his eyes.

“Dammit Nebula, turn down the lights, I though we were conserving power.” he grunted.

“Get up Stark,” she said, “Someone came,” Tony moved his hand down his face slowly, to take a look. He squinted to get used the light, and the view of a woman clad in red and blue stood over him.

“Hello Tony, my name is Carol. Fury paged me, and I was told by someone name Steve you were still stranded.” Tony barely heard any of it, her voice kept going in and out of focus.

“Yeah, and I helped track down our ship too,” someone grunted, he looked around, and saw a raccoon standing next to her.

Tony stared at the raccoon for a good minute before he declared, “Yeah, I’m about this close to death, huh? Lack of oxygen is making me hallucinate, because there’s no way a raccoon is talking.”

“First Quill, now you?” the raccoon exclaimed angrily, “What the hell is it with humans insisting I’m a goddamn raccoon?” he mumbled to himself, and walked away.

Tony ignored him, “I’m really not dead?” he asked Nebula.

“No, we got oxygen too, you can breathe again. Carol will be taking us to her planet.” Nebula replied, pulling him up. Tony weakly leaned against the wall, and got used to his surroundings again before his eyes widened.

“Peter,” he said to Nebula in a panic, “where is he?”

“He’s fine,” Carol said, “I have him hooked up to oxygen, and he’s getting food through a tube.”

Tony sighed in relief. “Okay, okay,” he said again, quieter. Carol grabbed under his shoulder. “Let’s get on my ship and get out of here.” she told him, Nebula followed. Tony looked around him as they walked through the door. It was cleaner and more sleek than the Benatar, but less roomy.

Carol gently got Tony onto a bench and strapped him down, “We’ll be at the nearest station soon to pick up supplies. Then we’ll head to my homeworld.” she told him, while making sure it was tight. “I’ll go get you some food to hold you off.

“How did you find us?” Tony asked when she handed him a bowl of, god knows what.

She sighed, “Fury paged me, I found the Avengers, and they told me you were still missing. Rocket offered to help track down his ship, and we ended up finding you pretty quickly.” she said, “I’ll give you more food later, don’t need you throwing it up.”

“Right,” Tony said, taking a cautious bite. It tasted off, but he couldn’t place it to anything. He was just hungry.

 

The raccoon, Rocket, Tony presumed, walked back to the ship, and took the bench opposite to him.

“Nebula is with your friend,” he told him, “She’s making sure he’s still breathing and all.”

“Thank you,” Tony said.

Rocket didn’t reply for a moment, “How did they go?” he asked.

Tony was puzzled, “Who? The Guardians?”

“Yeah, how did they die?” asked Rocket, not meeting his eyes.

“Dusted, all of them. Except Gamora. She was killed earlier for the soul stone. Quill got mad, and attacked him right as we got the gauntlet off.”

“Of course he did,” Rocket scoffed, and shifted in his seat, “He’s like a brother to me, but he likes letting his emotions get the best of him,”

“Yeah,” Tony said, taking another bite, “I took a look at your machinery before we ran out of food with Peter. Pretty sophisticated stuff.”

“Thanks,” replied Rocket, “You’re probably the first person to appreciate my engineering, everyone else freaks out when I talk about it.”

Tony let out a small laugh, “I can understand that, same thing happens on Earth. They sometimes have a point though.”

Rocket nodded, and they sat in silence for a while. Out the window to Tony’s left, bright colors filled the view as they moved through jump points quickly.

“Your friend, he looks young.”

“He is. Not even 17 yet.” said Tony, “But it’s coming up, I had a bunch of decorations ready for it and everything, was going to throw a surprise party.”

“Is he your son?”

“No, I’m his mentor. But – I guess we’re close.”

“I lost Groot on Earth,” Rocket said, “He was like a son to me. He was probably close to the same age. He was always getting into trouble, but I guess that was kind of our fault,” Rocket choked. He was rambling now “We weren’t very responsible when he was a baby, I guess those habits just carried on, but before he died, he called me dad.”

Tony looked sadly at him, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I would’ve done if Peter died.” he said glancing to his right. “But I don’t think I would’ve forgiven myself.”

 

 

Peter stirred in his sleep, listening to voices around him. He groaned as he began to regain feeling in his limbs. His muscles twitched, and he struggled to open his eyes. Everything was either too loud, or too quiet, it was like he was trying to find balance again.

“Wha- what’s going on?” he mumbled after what felt like a few minutes. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and someone shouting. At least, he thought they were shouting.

He got a feel for his surroundings, and opened his eyes. Tony, Nebula, some woman he hadn’t seen before, and a raccoon were all standing in front of him. Tony was leaning against Nebula for support.

“Mr. Stark?” he slurred. “Where are we?”

“Hey kiddo,” he said softly, “We’re on our way to Hala. This is Captain Marvel and Rocket. They rescued us.”

“I’m not dead?” he asked hesitantly.” Tony let out a weak laugh.

“No, thank goodness for that, you’re alive. We’re alive.” Peter tried to sit up, but Nebula reached forward, ad made him stay down.

“Don’t, you’re still healing. You’re very weak, Stark can barely stand. Don’t exert yourself.” she said. Peter let himself lean back, and settled on resting on his back instead.

“Fine,” he replied, “but I’d like to try and stand later.”

“You’ll have to, we’re only a couple hours away.” she said.

 

The journey to Hala was uneventful for Peter, he couldn’t see what was going on, and only had Nebula for company. When they got word they had arrived, she unstrapped him, and brought him to his feet. Immediately, he felt a blood rush, and needed to sit again.

“Are you okay?” asked Nebula.

“Yeah,” said Peter, blinking, “I’m fine, stood up too quickly is all.” he tried to get up again, slowly, and slowly walked out of the ship with Nebula by his side. Tony was being helped out by Carol with the raccoon following closely behind him.

“Where are we going?” he asked her.

“Medical bay, and Tony needs to debrief the Kree Starforce about what happened on Titan.” she said to him, as they walked out of the door. Peter felt his breath being taken away. The sky was an orange and green hue, and tall futuristic buildings glittered in the low hanging sun. They were high above the ground, near the top of a massive building.

“Hey, where are we?” he called out to Carol.

“We’re in one of the main Arcologies for Starforce,” she said back. “It’s where we live and train.”

“Cool,” Peter muttered to himself, “Really cool.” Peter took his time on some stairs that led inside, and looked up to see a lot of aliens looking at them. He felt like his eyes were going to bulge out of his head. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Ned and MJ about this,” he said softly.

“Who are Ned and MJ?” asked Nebula, as they passed the aliens and walked down a hallway.

“My friends back on Earth,” Peter explained as they caught up to Tony and the others. “Ned is really cool, he helps me with being Spider-Man, and he’s been my best friend since forever. And then MJ is really geeky, she loves to read, but she still calls us losers. But in a nice way.” he quickly assured Nebula. Tony weakly snorted ahead of him.

“Do you have any other friends?” she asked.

“No, everyone else either dismisses me, or doesn’t like me.”

“But you’re Spider-Man,” she said.

“Sure, but not in public. Secret identity, remember?” Peter sighed, “I wish I could tell people sometimes. But I want a normal life. And I need my family to be protected so no one goes after them.”

Nebula nodded, “I understand.”

“Okay, we’re here,” Carol interrupted. The medical bay had high ceilings, and was brightly lit. There were dozens of wards as well, Carol walked them over to the nearest ones, and set Tony in his bed. Nebula did the same with Peter.

“Okay, I’ll get you hooked up to some basic medical equipment. Good thing I’m half human, or they wouldn’t have anything for you. We’ll get you in surgery soon, Tony. But we need a surgeon first to oversee the robotic operation.”

“Great, sounds great,” Peter heard from the other side of the curtain.

Carol walked into his line of view, and started hooking Peter up to some machines. “You okay, kid?” she asked him.

“Yeah, fine,” he said.

“Peter’s not fine,” Tony called out, “When he says that, he usually means the opposite.” Carol made a small smile, and raised an eyebrow at him.

Peter sighed, “My stomach doesn’t feel good, like I’m about to puke. But I think that’s just nerves.” he admitted.

“We’ll check to make sure.” she said, finishing up with him.

“What’s that?” he asked her, as she injected something into his arm, “Will Mr. Stark be okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, he should be,” said Carol just as Tony said fine and dandy. She rolled her eyes towards the curtain, and turned back to Peter, “And it’s sleep medicine. Just to help you get some proper rest, okay?” she walked over back to Tony, as Peter felt his eyes drooping.

 

When Peter came to a few hours later, he felt more energized, and less sore. He stretched and turned over, and sat upright. He swung his legs back and forth, which felt better, and timidly stood on the cold floor. He was still stretching when Carol interrupted him, “You finished there?” she asked.

Peter whipped around, and dropped his arms, “Uh, yeah, thanks,” he said sheepishly.

“How do you feel?” she said, walking closer to take out his IV tubes.

“Fine, much better than like a week ago,” he said, sitting back on the bed so she could take the tubes off of him.

“Well that’s good, your healing factor worked overdrive as well, and we made sure you got enough water and stuff so you could heal properly.”

“So I’m good to go?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I’ll show you to your room.” she said. Peter followed her out the door, and he looked at Tony’s bed to find no one there.

“Where’s Mr. Stark?” he asked.

She turned to him, “He’s still in surgery. The battle on Titan did a lot of damage to his organs, and because he’s not enhanced like you, we expect it’ll take some time to heal.”

“How long?” he asked quietly.

“Not too long," she assured him, "we have much better medical equipment. But we want to be safe.”

Peter laughed, “Yeah, good luck keeping him in bed.”

“We’ll give him a bunch of manuals and data computers to go through. He’ll be content for about a week or so.” Peter snorted.

“I give it a couple days, tops.” Peter said confidently.

“Want to put a bet on that?”

“I doubt my money works here.”

“Fair enough,” she said, turning the corner.

“So how big is this place?” he asked.

“Several thousand Kree live and work here. So it’s very big. We have farms in some of these upper levels, a large park taking up many floors, and so on.” she pushed a door open. “And this is where you are. Don’t leave, we’ll bring food to you.”

“Feels like I’m a prisoner,” Peter joked.

Carol smiled at him. “Don’t worry, you’re not. I’ll bring you some manuals too, Nebula told me how you and Tony fixed the Guardians ship.” Peter felt a pang of guilt at that.

“I think I’m going to get more rest.”

“Well, you deserve it, I’ll be back later.” she said, closing the door behind her. When she was gone, Peter laid on his bed, and let tears fall as he thought about the people he left back at home. He hoped they were still alive.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple days later, Peter had made it through some of the manual, and while he found it fascinating, he was also getting bored. He sighed, and kicked his legs off the bed to go to the door, and press a button Carol gave him when he needed her. He leaned against the wall for a few minutes until she came by and opened the door.  
  
“I’m bored. Like really bored.” he said dully, “Do you want to talk?”  
  
“Sure” she said, walking inside. “What’s up?”  
  
“I don’t know, I just can’t stop thinking about how Aunt May and my friends are feeling if they’re still alive.” he slumped back on his bed.

  
“Do you want to go to Earth?” she asked sitting next to him.

“I don’t know, and that’s the thing. I don’t think I want to go back, on the chance they’re dead.” he said quietly.

Carol’s eyes softened, “You’d rather be ignorant than to know what happened?”

“It’s stupid, and selfish, I know,” he said, laughing bitterly, “But I could barely hold it together in the days after my uncle died. I don’t know if I can take May, or Ned, or MJ dying too.” Carol looked down for a moment.

“You know, I was taken from Earth. I didn’t go back for years. Everyone I knew had already moved on, and I was only able to reconnect with some of them.” Peter looked at her, and wiped his eyes, not interrupting.

“When I finally did reconnect with some,” she continued, “like my friend, who was an Air Force co-pilot, so much had changed. She was married, wanted kids, and was no longer a test pilot. And I missed all of that.” Peter looked at her carefully.

“My point is, don’t wait too long,” she said, in a slightly choked voice, Peter nodded.

“Okay,” he said slowly, “But I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“Yeah, I get that,” she said. She coughed, “Do you want to train with me?” she asked.

“Train?” he asked.

“Yeah, I want to see what you can do. It can help get your mind off everything at least.”

Peter nodded, “Yeah, yeah, that sounds great.”

“I’ll get you some clothes then,” she said, walking out. Peter wiped his hands on his pants, and sniffed. When she came back, she was wearing a black shirt and pants with gray stripes. She tossed an identical pair to him, “Put these on, I’ll leave so you can get some privacy, so come out once you’re done so we can walk over.” Peter nodded, and quickly pulled the clothes on when she left. They were thin, but soft.

 

When he got them on, he strolled out the door, and followed Carol down the hall, and towards a training room. It has a tall ceiling, with a long window on the opposite wall. It’s a fairly narrow room, with hard pads on the floor. “These absorb some of the impact, but it can still hurt,” she said to him. Peter nodded.

“Alright, training,” she said, facing him, “Hands up, and get in your stance,” she said. Peter did as he was told and she looked at him puzzled, “That’s your best stance?” she asked.

“Well yeah,” Peter said, unsure.

“Don’t you know how to fight?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” he said defensively, “But, I mostly dodge and web people up.” Carol laughs.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Peter shook his head slowly, and she walked over to him. “Plant your feet like this,” she said, and Peter followed, “This way you’re not knocked over as easily, and you hands,” she said, moving Peter’s hands across his face, “You need to protect your face better, like this,” she demonstrates. Peter copies her, and she nods. “Okay, remember that,” she said, moving her hands up, “Let’s start.”

She lunges forward, and on instinct, Peter knocks her hand away, and dodges her. Carol sighs at him. “You can’t rely on instincts Peter, you can’t fight like that. Especially if you plan of fighting more intergalactic warlords in the future.” Peter rolls his eyes. “Don’t dodge me again, deflect it and punch me.” she instructs, Peter nods, and gets back in position. She lunges forwards again with a punch, and this time, he’s ready. Peter leans out of the way, catches her fist, and punches her near the abdomen.

“That didn’t feel like a hard punch,” she said.

“Sorry,” Peter apologizes, “I don’t know how strong you are, and I don’t want to hu-” he’s still rambling when Carol interrupts him.

“Peter, I can take a punch, even a superpowered one. Let’s try that again, and this time, with feeling,” Peter gives her a weak laugh, and stands back in position. She punches him again, and he punches her back, which almost sends her flying. He looks at her with wide eyes, and she grins. “Now that’s more like it.”

 

After some instruction on hand to hand, they begin to spar, Both Carol and Peter are strong, but Peter is fast, and he’s able to deflect her punches with ease. He eyes her stance, and attempts to flip him over, but she sees what he’s trying to do, and does it first.

Peter gasps as the air is knocked out of him, and is momentarily stunned before he twists his arm and does the same. “That was a good fight,” he said, saying each word in between breaths.

“Yeah, it was,” learned anything?” she asked.

“Stand my ground when possible?” he said, unsure.

“Yeah, and also, don’t rely on your webs. You’re more than capable of taking on multiple people if you were well trained.”

“Cool,” he said, sitting up, and going for water.

Carol followed him, and leaned against the wall, “What are you going to do when we go back to Earth?”

Peter stopped drinking his water for a moment to consider what to say, “I don’t know,” he admitted, “I just want to make sure as much as possible is okay, and to start protecting people again,” Carol nodded.

“Well, I’m sure New York can use all the help it gets. Come on, let’s continue.”

 

Carol and Peter train for another couple hours before they call it quits for the day. She takes him over to the ward where Tony is being held, and find Nebula and Tony talking.

“Hey Peter, good to see you on your feet again.” he said when they came in.

“Hey Mr. Stark, how was surgery?”

“Oh it was great. They had me high as a kite to make sure I wouldn’t move. Why are you all sweaty?”

“I was training with Miss Carol,” he said. She smiled at him from behind.

“It’s just Carol, Peter.”

“Sorry, Miss Carol,” I mean, Carol,” he stammered out.

Tony raised up his hand, “Hang on now, “I’ve been trying to get you to call me Tony for how long now?” Peter blushes.

“Uh, I need to use the bathroom,” he said walking out. Carol laughs, and follows him out. Tony scoffs, but smiles anyway, and readjusts himself on the bed.

 

“So why don’t you call Tony, Tony?” she asked him later over dinner. She eats it with him in his room to keep him company.

“It feels, awkward, I suppose. He’s my mentor, and it feels wrong to address him any other way,” Peter said, keeping his eyes locked on his food.

“Do you think about him like a dad?” she asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” Peter says after a moment, “I’ve already lost my real dad, and then Uncle Ben, who helped raise me, and taught me everything I know.” Carol set her food down on her lap, and looks at him steadily, “Then Mr. Stark comes along. And at first, he asks nice, then he’s distant, then nice, then distant, and I don’t know what to think. He has me over at the compound sometimes, and him and May talk a lot about my, uh, extracurriculars” he said in finger quotes, Carol smiles at that, “But it’s complicated.” he finally says.

“Well, there’s plenty of time to talk it over,” she says, picking back up her food and taking a big bite.

“Yeah,” Peter agrees, “But, how do you get used to this food?” he asks poking at it, “It’s so slimy.”

“Years of practice, kid. Get it down as quickly as possible, and try not to taste it too much, that’s as much as I can give you.”

 

Over the next week, Carol and Peter fall into a routine. Get up, eat breakfast, train for the day, eat dinner, go to bed. Peter visits Tony during the day, and they talk things over, about going to Earth, and how to deal with the aftermath of the snapture.

“What are we going to do about Thanos?” asks Peter tentatively on their last day on Hala.

Tony’s eyes go cold at the mention of his name. “I’m going to go to the compound, figure out who we have left, track Thanos down, and kill him.”. On the opposite side of the bed, Nebula smirks.

“And I’ll be right by your side when you do, Tony.” she says.

Silently, right then and there, Peter decides he’s going to join them.

He tells Carol about it later on their last day of training and she stops mid-fight, “You’re going to what?”

Peter repeated himself, “Go with Mr. Stark and the other Avengers to track down Thanos,”

“Why? After you barely escaped last time?” she asked.

Peter pauses for a moment, “I don’t know,” he said, “Some sort of closure, I suppose?” Carol studies him for a moment, and strikes. Peter narrowly deflects her, and steps back as she fights him with all her strength, as he gets caught in a wholly defensive fight.

“You already got away from Thanos once. And he didn’t kill you,” she said in between punches, “If you go out to find him, do you think he’ll do that again?” Carol catches his arm and flips him over her head on the ground, and leans close to his ear, “If you go after him again, and you lose, he will kill you this time. You can barely keep up with me now, how can you take on Thanos?” she asks.

Peter lets out shuddering breaths “I can’t, I can’t, let him get away with it.” Carol lets go of him, and lets him sit up to face her, as Peter wipes his forehead, when he speaks again, his voice shakes, “I’m just, so mad we lost.”

Carol let out a deep breath, “You don’t need to be the hero all the time, Peter. But you can sit this out. Stay with your family.”

“Mr. Stark is family too,” he says quietly, “He nearly died once already. If I can fight by his side, I will.”

Carol looked down at him on the floor. “Well, you’ve got time to think it over, I guess,” she says, offering a hand to Peter. She pulls him up, and they walk out. “But you seriously need to consider if you need to do this,” she says softly. Peter looks at her and nods, before they walk to his room.

“Do you have your stuff ready?” she asks to break the silence on the way back.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe we’re going back to Earth after everything. I just keep thinking about how I’m going to try and get a normal routine again – but nothing will ever be the same.

“Yeah,” she agrees sadly, “Most of the Kree who work here are all over the planet helping to rebuild. Some weaker planets have, or have almost collapsed. It’s just such a mess.”  
Peter hummed, “How long will it take to get back?”

“Less than a day. Do you want to eat with me today?” she asked him.

“No, I need to think – I think,” he said, offering her a small smile, “But I think I would like to eat breakfast with you.

Carol nodded, “I understand, goodnight Peter.”

“Goodnight Carol.”

 

Tony felt like he was out of his mind. He had requested some basic machinery to work with alongside the manuals while he was bedridden, but every time he was doing nothing, or was alone, it felt like something was screaming at him in the back of his head.

Nebula came by every day. Usually she just sat beside him, and made sure he was feeling fine. And he tried to comfort her over the loss of her sister. They found some sort of solace with each other.

And now they were going to head back to Earth soon.

The two of them were sitting in a medical bay, doing nothing. He stared at the ceiling for almost an hour before he breaks the silence, “What do you think our chances are?”

Nebula looks up at him, and said nothing for a minute, “Probably not very good,” she settles.

Tony continues, not seeming to have heard her, “I mean, we’ve got Thor, then we got Carol, most of the Avengers, I want to say we have a chance-”

“But it’s a slim one,” she finishes for him.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. Do you think this is just going to be a suicide mission? Some desperate last bid?”

“If it is, I don’t care. I’ve wanted Thanos dead for years. Either he dies or I die. I don’t think I’ll ever have peace until one or the other happens,”

Tony’s words grow thick, and he turns to her, “The thing is, I agree with you. And I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. To risk never seeing Pepper again, never getting married, never seeing Peter graduate. But I also just want the bastard six feet underground.”

Nebula rests her hand on his own, “Well then we’ll work out the plan as best we can to make sure we have a chance.”

“Yeah,” is all he says before they go back into silence, and he goes back to staring at the ceiling.

“Goodnight Tony,” she says a few hours later. As she walks out and turns off the lights, the screaming resumes.

 

The next morning, Tony is cleared from medical, and Peter is ready to go back to Earth. They walk beside each other while following Carol to the pad.

“Excited to get some real food?” Tony says to Peter.

That gets a small smile from him, “Yeah, but I think I’ve gotten used to Kree food. So I suppose that eating chips will feel like a feast.” he jokes. But as soon as he finishes, the smile drops from his face.

“Are you scared of what you might come home to?” he asks gently.

“You aren’t?” Peter asks.

“No, I’m terrified, but we have to go home sometime. Whatever happens – We’ll work through it, okay?”

“Yeah,” Peter replies. Soon they’re at the pad, and Rocket and Nebula are already packing up their ship.

They board the ship, and strap into seats next to each other, while Carol prepares the ship for flight. When Rocket and Nebula get in and strap in themselves, Carol closes the back hatch, and lifts off from the Archology. Peter cranes his neck and watches the cities grow small and smaller as they rise through the clouds. Soon they’re in space. Once they’ve broken free of Hala’s gravity well, and are far away from the planet, Carol activates the jump drive, and soon the entire ship is surrounded by bright colors again.  
  
Peter is absentmindedly wiping his hands on his pants, and looking out the window, so Tony ruffles his hair, he was tired when he spoke, “Hey kid.”

“What’s up, Mr. Stark,” he said.

“Something on your mind?” he asked.

“Yeah, but you can probably already guess.”

“May,” Peter nodded, “And your friends,” Peter nodded again. Tony signs, and wraps an arm around him, “I can’t promise anything, but just know I’ll be there, Pepper will be there, Happy will be there, we’ll all be there for you.” Peter leaned into his side, sniffing.

“I know, but I don’t want anyone else to die.” his voice is shaking, but Tony doesn’t know what to say to stop it. “I wish we could go back. Make things right.”

“I think about that every day, kid. But now – now we just have to learn how to do with what we have, I guess.” He slumped in his seat, and rubbed his eyes, “I hate it, I really do, but everything’s just a mess.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed, he let his head fall back. “I think I’m going to nap now,” he said, letting his eyes drop.

“Alright, I’ll wake you when we’re close,” Carol held her thumb up to show she heard, and Tony felt Peter sink into him.

The screaming continued in his head, as he let Peter’s words get to him. What if Pepper was dead, or Rhodey, or Happy. A wave of nausea hit him, and he could feel his hand starting to shake. He focused on his breathing, and tried to avoid another panic attack.

Several hours later, they pulled out of warp, and the view of Earth entered their window. Almost immediately, Carol got messages hailing them. Tony shook Peter awake, hastily unbuckled his straps, and went to the front, “Open a channel,” he said.

“This is Tony Stark, we are not hostile, I repeat, this is Tony Stark. We’re coming with Carol Danvers, former Air Force pilot, and Kree Starforce member, as well as three other passengers.” he said hurriedly. A few seconds went by before they got a reply.

“Understood, good to have you back Mr. Stark.” then it cut.

“Where to, Tony?” asked Carol, as Tony took a seat next to her.

“Avenger’s facility, upstate New York, I’ll tell you where to go” he said, pointing to a point on Earth, she pushed the ships engine thrust, pushing everyone back into their seats. And half an hour later, she shut the engines off so she could flip the ship around to decelerate before they hit the atmosphere.

  
Soon, they were flying through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds towards the facility, when it came into view, Tony let out a shuddering breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this was my favorite chapter to write.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter watched as Carol lined up their ship to land on one of the Quinjet landing pads, where there was a group of people waiting for them.

He shakily unstrapped himself, and went to the back where the ramp was. He was shaking with nerves as it opened, and he felt Tony’s hand rest on his shoulder. When it had mostly opened, he could see everyone who was gathered. All of the remaining Avengers, some unfamiliar faces, and his friends, Ned and MJ. He didn’t have time to process it as the both of them ran up to Peter as soon as the ramp hit the ground. He hugged each of them tightly, and then all three into a group hug.

He glanced down at MJ, who had tears in her eyes, and a sad smile, “May?”

She shook her head, “There was only dust, I’m so sorry,” she said, embracing him again. His ears began to ring, and he couldn’t hear anything being said, to him or otherwise.

Peter didn’t know how much time had passed before Tony was gently prodding him to move out of the ship, and he had to clutch onto his shirt as he weakly moved out in shock. He saw the Avengers and others giving him sympathetic smiles, but all he felt like doing was yelling.

Peter and Tony were sitting next to each other in the common area of the facility. Ned, and MJ were near Peter, while Rhodey, and Happy were near Tony, with the other Avengers sitting around them. They sat in silence for almost half an hour before someone spoke.

“What happened out there?” asked Rhodey, turning to Tony.

Peter couldn’t speak, but Tony did, “A lot. A lot happened.” he said hoarsely, “We met Rocket’s crew, and we worked together on a plan to take the gauntlet from Thanos-”

“I nearly had it,” Peter quietly interrupted. All eyes went to him, and he looked up, “I nearly had it,” he repeated, “It was in my hands,” he said as they began to shake, “I could’ve taken it, it was right there.” Peter’s breathing became shallower, and tears were running down his cheeks. “Then we found out Garmora was killed, and Starlord lost it. If he only waited a few more seconds-” Peter suddenly stopped, and choked on his words as his breathing sped up.

“Hey, hey. Breathe Peter, you need to breathe. Come on, with me,” Tony said, recognizing his panic attack. Peter slowly calmed back down, while the other Avengers shifted in their seats.

Tony sighed, “I suppose you were pardoned?” he asked. He had an edge of bitterness to his voice, but it was mostly sad.

“Not exactly,” said Natasha, “But they have bigger problems to deal with,”

“Tony,” Steve began, “I think we need to talk-”

He interrupted him, “No, Rogers, I can’t. Not right now.”

Steve’s voice was softer when he spoke again, “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about a mission.”

Tony’s eyes met his, “To kill Thanos?”

“And a bit more, we need to discuss it privately though.” he said, nodding to Ned and MJ, and a young girl Peter had never seen before.

Tony and Peter motioned to stand up, and Steve opened his mouth to speak, but Tony got to it first, “Peter is as much of an Avenger as you, if not more. He can sit in the meeting.”

Steve closed his mouth, and stared at him for a few seconds, “I’m not sure that’s the best idea, but okay.” he said.

 

Tony led them to a conference room, and sealed the doors behind them. When everyone took their seats, Scott was the first to speak.

“I think, that there might be a way to reverse what Thanos did.” he said cautiously. That peaked Peter’s and Tony’s attention.

“Come again?” asked Tony, Peter nodded.

“You know that I can shrink, well the thing is, I can get very small. Like, very small. And I can enter what’s known as the Quantum realm. Before whatever happened, happened – when I was in the Quantum realm, I was warned against going through time vortexes. Now, when you’re that small, the laws of physics causes some really odd stuff, right? And stuff can appear to break down. But if we can get in one of those vortexes, we might be able to go to the past.”

“To undo everything?” Tony asked.

Scott shook his head, “No, that could create a paradox. I’m talking about learning. Learning who Thanos is, what the infinity stones can do. Their strengths and weaknesses.” Scott leaned forward on his chair, “There might be a chance we can do our own snap, and undo what Thanos did, bringing everyone back. You can’t just kill half the universe like he did, nothing can be absolutely destroyed.”

Tony looked at Peter quickly, “You really think we can do it?” he asked Scott.

“I don’t know, but it’s all we’ve got.”

“I’ll take it,” Tony said quickly. “Show me this machine you have for it, what you know, what research has been done. Everything.”

“We could bring May back?” asked Peter quietly.

Tony stopped in his planning frenzy, and turned to Peter, “If we can, you can bet we will.” he said, before going over to Scott, and Bruce.

 

Over the next few days, the Avengers crafted a plan to go through the past to specific times. The battle of New York, the first Guardian meeting with the collector. Any time there were infinity stones in play, they would go to.

Peter helped a bit, but he fell back and decided to spend time with Ned and MJ instead, to try and gain some semblance of normal life while they had hope.

On the day of when they were due to leave, Peter and the others were in the common area playing Monopoly with Cassie, Peter hadn’t been paying attention as much, so everyone else was beating him.

Peter rolled his dice, and moved his pieces of MJ’s square, “That’s be $550 Peter,” she said sweetly. Peter groaned, and gave her the money when the other Avenger’s walked through in new suits.

“Hey, everyone,” said Tony, the others looked up from their game, “We’re getting ready to leave now, don’t know how long we’ll be gone,” Tony looked at the others, “But the Happy will keep an eye on you,” they nodded, “Peter, can I talk to you?”

Peter stood up, “Yeah,” he said, following Tony. He led Peter into a private room where they could talk. He was in his repaired nanotech suit, with a strange wristband he and Scott worked on.

“So, Peter,” Tony began, “I’m not sure how to start this, but I want you to know how proud I am of you.” Peter nodded, “I don’t know if I’ll make it back, or even if most of us will make it back.” Tony sighed, and rubbed his eyes, “What I’m trying to say is, I care about you. My relationship with my dad was rocky at best, and I don’t want to leave you with any of those same impressions. I never told you that wasn’t one for kids. Never was, but you changed that.” Peter looked at him with a mixture of confusion and realization, “While I may never have a kid, you’re honestly the closest I have to a son.”

Only a couple beats passed before Peter pushed himself out of his chair, and hugged Tony as hard as he could, “Please don’t die, Tony.”

He smiled, and patted Peter’s head, “So that’s what it took to get you to call me Tony,” he said kindly.

“Honestly, I just didn’t know when I should call you Tony, it felt too awkward. So I just decided to mess with you. I learned from the best after all” Peter was smiling, but he had tears in his eyes.

“I guess I really rubbed off on you, huh kid?” Tony said, shaking his head, “I don’t know if I should feel offended or complimented.”

“Oh, no, I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about MJ,”

Tony let out a laugh, and pulled Peter into another hug. “Take care of yourself. And don’t wait too long to do the things important to you. You deserve to be happy.”

“Okay,” said Peter.

“Come on, I suppose the others are waiting on me,” Tony said, slinging his arm over Peter’s shoulder.

 

Peter and Tony walked outside to the machine that was hooked up to Scott’s van. The other Avengers were standing outside it, and Scott was in front of his daughter, saying goodbye.

“I promise I’ll come back, Peanut.”

“You better, we have so many more adventures to do together,” Scott smiled.

“I know, don’t worry-”

“And you need to help mom and Jim,”

“I know, I’ll try and do all those things, but first I need to bring them back okay?” Cassie nodded, and hugged him tightly.

“I’m going to miss you Peanut,”

“I’m going to miss you too Grandma.” Scott laughed a bit, and unhooked himself to stand.

Tony smiled at them, and turned to Peter, “Remember take care of yourself, and don’t forget to stay low to the ground.” he said, rubbing his shoulder.

“I will,” Peter said thickly. Tony ruffled his hair one more time, and walked over to where the others were.

Carol looked at him from the side, and Peter walked up to her, “I’m going to miss you,” he said.

“That’s nice,” she said, staring down at her hands.

“Uh, stay safe out there. Or s safe as you can be I guess.” Carol let out a laugh.

“I’ll try, and when I get back, maybe I’ll teach you how to fly my ship.”

“That would be awesome,” he said, nodding awkwardly. Peter was surprised when Carol pulled him into a hug.

“I’m glad you decided to stay,” she said in his ear.

“Yeah, I do have people down here to protect.”

Carol stepped back and held him out, “Queens is lucky to have you. Take care of yourself Peter.” she said, before joining the others.

He stood back, and watched as each of the Avenger’s rapidly shrunk, until all that was left was silence. Peter turned on his heel and walked back inside, the others followed.

 

One moment, Tony was standing in front of the Avenger’s facility, the next, he was somewhere that was awash in color. Everything was fading in and out of focus, and there seemed to be no sense of direction.

“Come on everyone, by me, we need to stick together.” said Scott.

Tony stopped looking around, and turned to Scott, where the other Avengers were forming up, “What’s our plan?” Steve asked when Tony got to their group.

“We’re going to look for time vortexes,” Scott said, “We can tell whether they go to the future or past, and roughly how far back or forward it goes, but not much else. So when we’re looking for a specific date, we may need to wait in that world for a while, or come back and try again,” said Scott.

The team nodded, and Scott clapped his hands together, “Alright, let’s go find one,” he said. The others nodded, and followed Scott and Tony through the realm, while the two made sure the others were close behind.

After some time of walking, they found a vortex, it was an intense white, and made something like a hole below them. Scott walked up, and took some readings.

“It looks like this leads back a couple years ago,” Scott said, reading from a device.

Tony shook his head, “No, we should find something further back, that’s not too long ago.”

“Alright, let’s go further,” Carol said.

Tony turned to Scott, “How far apart are these vortexes?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, “We’ll just be walking until we find one."

“Fair enough,” Tony shrugged, “Can they open and close randomly?”

“Not sure about that either,” said Scott, “But we should be cautious of that just in case,” he turned to the others, “Keep an eye out, I’m not sure if vortexes can open randomly,” he called over to them, the others nodded in recognition, and looked down at their feet more.

Tony used his suit to scan the area, when he found one, he pointed it out to Scott, “There’s one,” he said. The group beelined to it, and Scott took another reading.

“This is a bit further back, maybe four or so years ago?” “Still not far enough,” Tony sighed, “Let’s keep looking.”

They were walking away from the vortex when Rocket yelled out, “Wait!” He ran up to Tony, “We should go through this one, I’m pretty sure this was around the same time as when Ronin went to Xandar. We can go to the collector.”

“Do you have a ship?” Tony asked.

“No, but I have some stuff to build a transponder out of. We can contact a ship, fake some identities, and we’re good to go.” he said, crossing his arms.

“And I can help Rocket,” said Nebula. “I can give him some power if he needs it.”

Tony looked at Scott who shrugged, “Sounds good to me, let’s go through.” Tony took a deep breath, and stepped in. The next thing he saw was white.

 

It had been over a week since the Avenger’s had left. The world had taken notice, and a press conference was held confirming the Avenger’s had headed out to a secret mission. Happy was low on details, but he told everyone, it was to do with Thanos.

In the Avenger’s facility, Peter was absentmindedly pacing back and forth on the ceiling, and he didn’t notice. MJ and Ned were looking at him in a mix of interest and exasperation, while Cassie was looking at him in awe.

“Peter,” MJ said finally, after over an hour.

“Yeah,” he said, still wringing his hands.

She sighed, “You’re doing that thing again.” he looked at her in confusion, before his eyes widened.

“Oh, right, sorry,” he said, flipping off of the ceiling.

“Just put on your suit, and head to Queens, I’m sure there’s a homeless shelter, or something for you to help with,” she said softly, “You should take your mind off this.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I’ll ask Happy if he can drive me over.” Peter said, before leaving the room.

“Hey, Happy?” Peter called out when he got to his office.

“Yeah Peter?” he said, coming out, and looking tired.

Peter stopped, “Oh, I was about to ask if you could drive me to Queen’s, but it’s-”

“Any other time, I would probably say no, but I need to do something normal, get in the car.”

Pete smiled. “Alright, thank you Happy!” Peter ran off to get his suit, and went to the car to wait for him. He came in a few minutes later, and started the car, setting off to Queen’s. About an hour later, they arrived, with Peter in his suit, and he walked out of the car, saying a quick thanks to Happy, and shooting a web at the nearest building. He swung over to a homeless shelter that had a line extending down the block, and went inside. The people outside looked surprised, as Spider-Man hadn’t been spotted in a long time. And the same went to the people inside.

 

Peter walked up to the nearest woman who looked like she worked there, and she smiled at him, “Everyone thought you died,” she said. Peter had sudden flashbacks, but brushed it aside.

“I nearly did,” he said, scratching the back of his head, the woman’s face fell.

“Oh, you were with Tony Stark on that ship, weren’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah I was. Um, do you need any help?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Sure, you can help hand out supplies,” she said, “We’ve been strapped for staff, as most people here aren’t in the best of circumstances to begin with. In fact, some of them are volunteers that recently went homeless themselves.” she explained to him.

“Okay,” said Peter, who suddenly felt guilty at what happened while he was away.

“I’m Margaret by the way,” she said, holding out her hand.

Peter took it, “Spidey, but you can call me Tom. That’s not my name, but it’s a cool one I guess.”

Margaret laughed, “Okay Tom. Here, you can help Chelsa with handing out food,” she said, walking him over to a girl handing out food. She looked around his age, but he had never seen her before.

“Okay, thank you,” said Peter, “Hello Chelsa,” he said, holding out a hand to shake, she looked at him confused, and shook it.

“So, are you actually Spider-Man?” she asked a few minutes later, as they handed out food.

“Uh, yeah,” Peter said awkwardly, handing out a parcel, he looked around quickly. They were in a warehouse, so he couldn’t easily go to the ceiling, and doing a large flip would look odd, so he grabbed a nearby metal pole, and bent it.

She looked impressed, as did several of the people in front of the line getting food, “Okay, so you are Spider-Man,” she said.

“Heh, yeah.” he said, handing a parcel to a couple kids.

“So where did you go?” she asked curiously. “You and Tony Stark just vanished.”

“Another planet, I don’t know where. But it was Thanos’ homeworld.”

“Did you fight alien armies there?” Peter looked at her for a moment, wondering why she was so forward.

“No, just him. Everyone was dead. All that was left were ruins.”

“Oh, and you two fought alone like that? How did you survive?” she was sounding fairly interested now, and Peter had to suppress a sigh.

“I don’t want to talk about it, sorry.” her face fell, and she looked apologetic.

“Sorry. It’s just, last time we saw you, you were getting cats from trees, and now this?”

Peter laughed, but it was slightly hollow, “Yeah, big step up.”

“Well, what powers do you have then?” she asked.

“Lots. Just imagine a smaller Captain America with the ability to climb walls.” he said, she clicked her tongue.

“What about the web shooters?”

“Designed and built those myself,” he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“So you’re a genius too?” she asked.

“I suppose, I don’t know, it was just that one thing.” he said, handing out more parcels.

She hummed, “well, I think it’s pretty interesting.”

“How’s the city holding up?” he asked a few minutes later.

“So, so. A lot of parts are the same as this. Poorer areas are rioting, there’s not many places that are operating okay.” she sighed, “The world’s a mess.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed.

 

He and Chelsa continued handing out parcels for over an hour, before Happy walked in to get Peter, he signed himself out, bid goodbye to Chelsa, and walked to the car with him.

“How was it kid?” asked Happy when they were inside.

Peter pulled off his mask, “Good. Or, better I guess. It was nice helping people, that felt normal, but seeing how people’s lives were ruined, didn’t sit well.”

“Yeah, well let’s hope the others can reverse this.” he said, driving off back to the facility.

Peter and Happy got back later that evening, finding that the others already had dinner. Ned left a note out for Peter, telling him what it was. No one was in the common room, so Peter supposed they were in their own rooms. He pulled the fridge open, and pulled out the leftover Pizza. He put it in the toaster oven, and he and Happy had a quiet dinner before he went to his room.

A few hours later, he was still awake. Staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yickedy yikes, it takes forever to format these chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been almost three weeks since the Avenger’s left Earth, and almost a month and a half since the snap. Peter went to Queens every morning, and came back every evening with a new story, while the others kept an eye on the news.

While the apocalypse had brought most nations together in common ground to rebuild, there were still old tensions ever-present between them. Treaties were signed to work together, and governments were still working to get into the swing of things. Every state and nation held some sort of emergency election, and an international service was held in respect for the people who died. There were plans to erect a statue to signify the loss, as a reminder to never take anyone for granted.

 

Peter was in the shelter one day, helping take care of the kids, he was spinning trinkets with his webs to entertain them.

“Here, look at this!” he said, creating a wind chime for them. He squinted his eyes as he worked, and the kids that surrounded him inched themselves closer to him. He spun thin strands to make up the structure, and then a thicker web spiraling down like Christmas lights. When he was finished, he spaced out blobs of webbing along it, and held it up for them to see. Some of the adults had gathered to watch as well.

Peter was proud of himself for his webbing arts and crafts, and was about to start another one when people inside started talking louder than normal, and running outside. Then a woman ran inside, panting heavily.

“There’s people, reappearing.” she said to Margaret. Peter dropped his chime, and ran outside. Peter were coming back from dust, and looking around, seemingly panicked. His eyes widened, and he ran back to his apartment, but soon started swinging to avoid people who were coming back to life.

He soon arrived at his window, and nearly broke the window hatch trying to get in.

“May,” he called out, taking off his mask. He ran to her room, where she had just reappeared, she looked at him wide-eyed. Peter looked at her for a second before running over, and giving her the tightest hug he could.

“You’re back, you’re really back.” he said through her shirt. May brushed her fingers through his hair, but couldn’t say anything else out of shock.

 

Back in space, the Avenger’s tiredly walked up the ramp of their ship. Steve had died to save Tony, Clint died grabbing one of the stones from Thanos, and Bruce had died while Hulk stayed – but gained his intelligence. Everyone else had survived with varying degrees of injuries; Tony’s arm became mangled after welding the gauntlet and reversing the snap. He just hoped it worked.

When he took his seat next to Carol, and the other Avenger’s were strapped in, she took them out. And Tony bid one last look at the planet Thanos had briefly lived on.

While traveling through time, they had all aged almost two years. Tony’s hair started to gray in that time, and he felt old and weary.  
  


_The Avengers’s are_ _looking around Knowhere, at all the aliens surrounding them. They’ve arrived before the Guardian’s, and manage to talk to the Collector about the infinity stones. He tells them about what they can do, and the danger if they’re brought together._

_“_ _Do we have a chance of combating the stones if we were in that situation?” Steve asks._

_The collector looks at him for a moment, “You would need to be quick, and have an immense power of your own. But you would have more luck using the welder against themselves.”_  
  


_Tony watches himself fly into the wormhole, dressed as a shield agent._ _There’s cheering around him when they realize New York won’t be flattened, but the cheering stops when he doesn’t come back through. Less than an hour later, he’s walking side by side with Loki. Later when he’s in his cell, Tony comes in, and to the surprise of Loki, shows himself._

_“Well, well Stark.” he said lightly, “It might be me, but. you looked better not that long ago,”_

_“Cut the crap, you’re going to tell me everything you know about Thanos.” Loki froze, and while he wasn’t sure, Tony could’ve sworn he went pale._

_“How do you know his name?”_

_“Information for me to know, and you to find out. Who is he, what’s he doing, why did he send the Chitauri?”_

_Loki tells him about how he was tortured, how the mind stone was used to make him submissive, and how Thanos wanted Earth because they held one of the infinity stones. Tony listens to him for almost an hour, before he’s satisfied._

_“If anyone asks, I wasn’t here,” said Tony, clasping a hand on his shoulder and walking out with his shield helmet on._  
  


_The Avenger’s arrive at Nidavellir, per Thor’s request. It’s a massive forge,_ _and an epic secret_ _made up of a ringworld around a neutron star. It’s populated by millions of dwarves who craft incredible weapons_ _and material_ _fo_ _r legendary warriors across the universe, and_ _for_ _uphold_ _ing_ _the megastructure around their star.._

_They meet_ _Eitri, who tells them about the metal they use, and Tony requests a miniature gauntlet capable of holding the infinity stones, that can fit on his suit. They watch as it’s built, and Nebula runs her hand across it_ _when its cooled._

_“We will_ _give Thanos the fight of his life,” she says, locking eyes with him._

_Tony smirks, and attaches the new gauntlet to his suit, it’s a seamless hit, and the nanobots adapt to the new structure on his arm._  
  


_After stopping in several more places through time, the Avenger’s go back to the current era, and travel to Zen-Whoberi, Gamora’s home planet, and the place Thanos settled down to. He lived in a remote part of the planet, far from the Zehoberi species._

_They arrive near Thanos’ farm, as quickly as they can to get a surprise on him. When Thanos spots them, he grabs his gauntlet, and attacks them in anger. The fight is brutal, and Tony only remembers flashes of it._

_“Don’t blame yourself Tony, I’m sorry we let it get to this point.”_

_“Stark! Take the power stone!”_

_“We have an opening! Go!”_

_When the dust settles, Tony is holding all the stones in his hand, standing over the dead Titan, Thanos. He holds up his hand, and snaps his fingers. They won. They can go home._  
  


“First stop, Titan,” Carol said almost an hour later, when they were far from the planet and were safe to use the jump drive. Tony laid his head back, content at there situation, and wanting nothing more than to sleep. He momentarily opens up Steve’s pocket-watch that had a picture of Peggy on the inside and clasps it shut again. As he stares out the window, he absentmindedly rubs his thumb around it.

Tony looked behind him, at his fellow teammates, who grew to trust each other again, and become friends. They had revealed their deepest thoughts, showed their true selves, and had learned to forgive. It just felt too late.  
  


When they arrived at Titan, sometime later, she piloted the ship to where the Guardian’s were supposed to be, they were standing around where they had died a couple months, or in their case, several years prior.

Tony was the first one out, then Rocket ran out to them.

“What happened?” Quill asked, who was on his knees, and hugging Rocket.

“You died,” said Rocket.

“Yeah,” he said slowly, “I think I remember. How long has it been?”

“A couple months, I think,” Tony says.

Quill glances at his arm, “You took the infinity stones?”

“And reversed what Thanos did. The universe is back to where it was. I hope.”

“Where’s our ship?”

“We took it to escape, it’s drifting through space right now. We can go out and get it, but it needs to be properly repaired, refueled and everything.”

Quill looked through the group, “So this is the Avenger’s, huh? Where’s the kid?”

“Back on Earth, we wouldn’t had wanted to bring him anyway,” Tony said, leading them to the ship.”

“We’re we going?” asked Mantis.

“Earth.”

 

Peter stares at a transmitter that Carol had left. He brought May to the Avenger’s facility, while Ned and MJ went back home to reunite with their families. Pepper was there when they arrived, and she was frantic to know where Tony was. So she was sitting next to him, waiting for the transmitter to go off.

“They should be back soon,” said Peter, his chin was buried in his arms on the desk, and May was rubbing his back. They had been sitting there for almost three hours, and Happy brought them over a pizza to eat while they waited.

Peter was dozing off when the transmitter crackled, and Carol’s voice came through, “We’re on our way back now, Thanos is dead.” a wave of relief swept through the room, “Some of the Avengers were killed, we’ll be back soon,” The radio cut out, and Peter felt his stomach go cold.

When the radar picked up a plane entering their airspace, Peter and the others ran out to the landing pads, the landing ramp opened, and bathed them in white light, while the Avenger’s filed out. Hulk came first, he was wearing a suit, and looked calm. Then Thor and Natasha, who looked warn, and were carrying a body between them, they walked past, but Peter couldn’t make out a face because it was burned so badly. They went back in while Rhodey, and the Guardians came out, Rhodey wasn’t in a suit, just his leg braces, and noticed Peter craning his neck looking for Tony.

He walked over, and gave him a hug, “It’s okay, Tones is alive.” Peter let out a breath of relief while Rhodey hugged Pepper and Happy.

Thor and Natasha came back out a moment later, carrying the body of Steve, followed by Carol and Tony, who was leaning against Carol for support. He was in regular clothes, but his arm was blackened. Peter ran over to him, and hugged him – minding the arm.

“Hey kiddo,”said Tony gruffly, giving him a one-armed hug.

“What happened?”

“I welded an Infinity gauntlet of my own. I think I have to get it amputated, but we didn’t have anything for that. Did it work?”

“Yeah, everyone was reappearing earlier, it’s all over the news.” Tony looked up and saw Pepper and May, and he smiled.

“Good,” Tony let go of Carol, and limped his way over to Pepper, clutching her tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re back.” he said in a choked voice.

Pepper was unsuccessfully fighting back tears when she replied, “Yeah, I’m glad you’re back too.”

“Come on boss,” Happy said, “Let’s all go inside.” A few of the Avenger’s stayed back to bring over Steve and Clint’s bodies, while the others followed the group inside.

“Welcome back, everyone,” came FRIDAY’s voice through the speakers.

 

The next few days were a shock to everybody. When news broke out that the Avenger’s had left Earth to kill Thanos, the world rallied to celebrate and remember the ones who fell.

Peter Quill had left Earth for a day, and when he came back, he was with representatives from the Nova Corps who wanted to make a statement to Earth.

“We in the Nova Corps, and the Galactic community at large cannot continue disregarding humanity,’ he said on live television, while the Avenger’s stood behind him.

“The Avenger’s did the universe a great service in restoring the Universe, and will be remembered for millennia to come. In recognition of this, and by acknowledging how far the human race has come, we have decided to assist humanity both technologically and scientifically, while giving the heads of government a voice in galactic politics. We will not give you our technology, and we will not annex your governments in favor of ours. You will have to grow on your own. But the time has long past when we can sit idly by.”

In the wake of this announcement, the Avenger’s became the first ambassadors for humanity, and were recognized as an elite high-level military force. There were several waves of publicity as well when the Corps announced that they would be setting up universities to teach humanity advanced science and technology. Wakanda had the closest relations to the Corps, having direct access to the most advanced technology on Earth, so they largely made up the scientific ambassadors for humanity.

The world was rebuilding, and it was looking brighter than before.

 

Peter went back to school almost three weeks after everyone had come back. No one figured he was Spider-Man, while his alter-ego was given large honors by the US government and Corps for bravery. Flash didn’t call him names as often, and his life was feeling normal again.

Except when it wasn’t.

“So Peter,” said Carol one afternoon, clapping her hands together outside the ship, “Let’s continue your crash course in piloting.”

Peter had been jittery all day waiting for this, and bounded up to the co-pilot’s seat next to Carol, looking out of the cockpit of her ship.

He looked at the instrumentation, at the symbols that were being translated into English, and slowly clasped his hands on the Joystick.

“Well, what are you waiting for, get us in the air,” she said, smiling at him. She had her hands on the Joystick, ready to override and take over in case something went wrong, while Tony was behind her, acting dramatic, and making sure he was securely strapped in.

Peter grinned back, and tapped on the control panel to spin up the engines. He could hear the dull roar coming from the back as they started to go up. He moved the thrust up, and they were soon in the air, on their way to space.

“You’re doing a good job Peter,” she said through his radio comm, when they had passed the cloud layer..

“Thanks,” Peter said shakily, he stared out wide-eyed, as the readouts soon showed they were supersonic, and the atmosphere darkened. The three of them felt a jolt when they were well past the stratosphere.

“Those were the rockets going into afterburner mode,” she said, Peter nodded, they hadn’t gone this high before. Soon they were in space, and he was pushing them to escape velocity so they could activate the jump drive.

“Just like a Kree pilot,” Carol said smoothly.

The world was still healing, but for Peter, his was also just beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that Endgame spot is better than what I can write. I really liked the Tony and Nebula scene, as brief as it was.
> 
> Sorry if it ended anticlimactically, I'm not good at fight scenes, and I didn't want to butcher it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this has been on my mind for a bit. I had most of Chapter 3 written a couple days before this was published - but I accidentally deleted over 1300 of those words - So... I got stuck, trying to rewrite it, and finish it.
> 
> I wrote most of this while listening to the Avenger's Endgame trailer music.
> 
> Chapters EDIT: Every 3 days, next one on the 30th. I'm also around halfway finished with the last chapter. So I'm comfortable speeding up the update schedule.


End file.
